M1 MacBook Air keyboard brightness

Create a new plist file in `~/Library/LaunchAgents` named `com.local.KeyRemapping.plist` and add the following code. Save the file and reboot. F5 and F6 will now work as keyboard brightness up/down keys.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.local.KeyRemapping</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/hidutil</string>
        <string>property</string>
        <string>--set</string>
        <string>{"UserKeyMapping":[
            {
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0xC000000CF,
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0xFF00000009
            },
            {
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0x10000009B,
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0xFF00000008
            }
        ]}</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Important is to make sure you do not select ' Adjust keyboard brightness in low light' in keyboard preferences.

I found that in Control Center.

Sorry the screen shot in Japanese.

It is a shame that so many people on these forms do not know what they are talking about. if you do not know then say so. rather then trying to answer question in which you do not have the answer. The keyboad brightness on the apple M1 macs is located in the control panel, which you can access easily on the right hand side of the menu on top of the desktop. It is a slider that lets you lower and increase keyboard brightness. It is labled "keyboard Brightness". along with a slider for sound and dispaly brightness and other selections. I like it better than being on the keyboard myself

This should be the accepted answer.

Apple made the strange decision to move keyboard brightness controls into the control center. The keyboard backlight wouldn't activate even in a dark room, and no setting in System Preferences would change that. Only moving the slider (which was, for whatever reason, slid to the extreme left) turned the light on.

Why can't I move my plist file into the /Library/LaunchAgents locations? Additionally, why don't I see the LaunchAgents folder (among many other folders) in the terminal when I navigate to ~/Library/ ?

is anyone else curious if there is a way to turn on and off keyboard backlight without having to use the trackpad and manually adjust at the control center. i just wanna press a button. i miss the old keys that offered this option, i feel like there is a way to make this possible, and i'm just not savvy enough ! plz help!

Big sir allows you to control the keyboard brightness in the desktop menu which I find much more convenient than looking for it on the keyboard. That is the only way you can control the keyboard brightness on the new M1 macbook pros, sorry

Look at keyboard in system preferences. You can make adjustments there. Also control panel has illumination slider I believe.

Thank you so much for finding this!